Bills Busy Preparing for Frozen Tundra in Addition to Patriots
They practiced indoors on Wednesday but with the doors open to allow for arctic blasts. They were outdoors on Thursday, albeit in 30-degree weather, which will feel like a sauna compared to Saturday night.
But make no mistake, the Buffalo Bills know they will be up against much more than the New England Patriots in the first round of the playoffs at Highmark Stadium. The weather forecast is for clear skies but a temperature of around 2 degrees and wind gusts of up to 14 miles per hour by the time these AFC East rivals meet under the lights for the third time in seven weeks.
One of the tactics coach Sean McDermott and his staff have used this week is to freeze the footballs, because regardless of how bad the conditions may be, the Bills know they're going to need to throw the ball at least a little (and probably more than that) to prevail.
That would be in contrast to the Patriots, who already proved they could win without throwing in similar conditions at the same venue on Dec. 6.
"The biggest thing we wanted to do is always I believe in getting out where you're going to play the game is to be in that environment as much as you can, all the while not trying to put too much physiological stress on the players too early in the week," McDermott said. "... So I think we've done a good job of hearing it into into Saturday at this point."
Hence the frozen footballs.
"We talk about it as a staff," McDermott said, "and so those [equipment] guys try to cool those balls down a little bit. As you know, even growing up and you're playing in the backyard and it's cold — I'm sure in Buffalo, for a lot of people out there, that's the case this time of year trying to go out there just play touch football or tackle or whatever — and a ball gets slick because it is so firm, right?
"And so just trying to make sure just like anything that we try to adapt our guys to that as much as possible."
For their part, the players don't seem terribly concerned.
Quarterback Josh Allen on Tuesday talked about the technology available to them to keep them warm between series and seemed more concerned about keeping his toes warm than his hands.
Tight end Dawson Knox expressed similar sentiments Thursday.
"There's no excuses," he said. "... We've had some pretty crazy weather games this year. We've honestly probably had more bad weather than good weather, but it's just one of those things. You've got to lock in extra. I wish there was a way in the offseason to kind of simulate catching the ball in 50-mile-per-hour winds, but that's not really realistic. But it's just something you've just got to check in a little extra mentally, just really track the ball better, have the right gloves on if it starts raining.
"The equipment guys are awesome at making sure we have all the right stuff, but it's just locking it a little bit extra. It's that championship caliber we always talk about."
Unlike what is probably a minority of Bills Mafia members, you won't hear players pleading for their new stadium to be indoors.
"All the equipment guys and managers we have do an incredible job keeping us warm on the sidelines with these huge jackets, heated benches, all the heat blowers," Knoz said. "So we're going to be ready to go.
"I've been here at least for three years and everyone else has been here for full winter or almost a full winter now, so everyone's going to be locked in and ready to go."
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
